Whisky On the Course, Not A Surprise, But……

It’s a bit strange, the opening to this golf season. The past few years at this time I would have been well into the season but here in the middle of April I have but three full rounds in. Due to the annoyingly persistent winter we’ve faced in the Northeast course openings have been delayed for weeks.

In fact most of them are just welcoming their first golfers this weekend. But one of my “old reliable” courses was able to open on March 30^th and we have been fortunate to cram some rounds in but not without paying the price.

In all three rounds I teed off in the same weather that I usually see at season’s end when I am trying to squeeze in a few last rounds before winter closes us out. The high 30’s was the temperature for one of my outings and the mid 40’s for the others. But when you’re starved for golf you pull on the long johns, add another sweater and get out there.

Yesterday we had a slight break…mid 50’s and it almost seemed like spring for a change. I joined a twosome on the first tee while it still was cool enough for sweaters and gloves on both hands for awhile. They were a sociable pair and we swapped stories on golf, our new-found “retirement” life and our masochistic love of our New York Jets, but that’s another different, painful story.

Now, the old Scots have dealt with the elements on the course for centuries and their solution is simple: Whisky. Yes, it’s whisky, no e in whisky in Scotland. A little bit of ‘The Water of Life’ keeps the Scots warm and out on the course.

It’s now become a ritual for my brothers and I too. During our trip to Scotland my older brother had the foresight to get us a few flasks, the traditional method of bringing the chosen whisky along for eighteen holes. Now, we are rarely without a wee nip on the course.

And it’s never odd to see fellow golfers partake in a few beverages while playing. Usually a a few beers are the favored beverage for most but when it’s a bit chillier whisky seems more fitting.

So I wasn’t shocked when my partners for the day started to nip a bit on the third hole. But it was the method by which their water of life was brought along that shocked me. Out comes the entire bottle of scotch, not a flask not a small airplane bottle…no, a full bottle of the 750ml version. Man, these guys don’t fool around.

Now, what’s more disturbing is that I, even from a distance recognized the shape of bottle and I knew it could be no other than Lagavulin, a peaty spirit from the Isle of Islay. Maybe I spend too much time researching (and tasting) scotch but I prefer to think of it as a family history lesson after all I have family roots in Scotland.

I had to ask to verify that it was indeed Lagavulin and sure enough they acknowledged it was and offered me a sip. But I declined, probably more out of surprise than the fact that they were swigging it right from the bottle.

Now, when I play with my brothers we are very much aware that if we are going to nip we would never be so rude as to not offer our playing partner a taste also. So along with our flasks we always carry a few of those little plastic shot glasses. It makes sharing our treasured spirit so much easier and a little more sanitary at that.

So while I fully endorse a golfer’s right to have a taste of his favorite drink on the course I choose to go the traditional way…and that doesn’t mean the cart girl. It’s the flask. A convenient, little method of carrying my favorite scotch along with me. It’s fun, it’s traditional and a wee bit more classy than swigging from the bottle.

But in a pinch, that’s not bad either.